Do Teeth Reveal Israel Not Africa Was the Birthplace of Modern Man?

An active area of debate in the paleontological and archaeological communities is the question of where mankind evolved. Scientists generally believe that humans diverged from Neanderthals around 500,000 years ago -- but the question of where they involved has provoked much controversy. The prevailing sentiment has been that while primates may have evolved in Asia or elsewhere, the human species evolved in Africa. This notion has been supported by the fact that all the recent major hominid discoveries [1][2][3] came from African excavations.

But a new discovery by archaeologists from Israel's Tel Aviv University (TAU) argues that humans may have evolved in Israel, based on the finding of 200,000-400,000 year old remains in Qesem Cave, a pre-historic site located near Rosh Ha'ayinin in Israel Center District, which borders the Mediterranean Ocean.

Prof. Avi Gopher, Dr. Ran Barkai, and Prof. Israel Hershkowitz of TAU led the dig. Leading a team of international researchers, they unearthed eight human teeth.

Previous studies have dated the cave as having been accessible from 200,000 to 400,000 years ago. Morphological studies, including CT scans and X-rays, showed that the teeth indeed belonged to modern humans.